This should be close to all ours heart as we all consume more coffee than we would like to admit, hence more opportunities to look at the country side,,, Now the OL has been complaining that the coffee tastes like _____ ,,well you fill in the blank. Anyway we have tryed every different coffee In the local stores from 8 O'clock to Dunkin Doughnut, to stuff she paid 15 bucks a 1/4 pound seems like nothing has any real coffee taste/flavor any more,, New coffee maker, new filters, new grinder for beans, bottled water, new filter for the fridge , add more add less, nothing makes a difference. So is it maybe just us up here on the ridge or has any one else noticed the same thing

The coffee maker has something to do with it, and so does the coffee quality. We use a Keurig, and I really like the coffee it makes. The Green Mountain Nantucket is about the best cup of coffee that will come out of our kitchen.

__________________
Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..."

One of my sidelines is roasting coffee. I have a 1 kilo Turkish drum roaster, gas fired, and sell around 90lbs. a month. It's a small community here so I do it, my hand to yours, no retail markup, no ad. costs, etc.

I purchase 60 # sacks of green coffee from a reputable source that only handles coffee they have taste tested, before stocking.

Rule of thumb:
Green coffee beans good for 12 months or better
Roasted coffee beans good for 1 month or less
Ground coffee beans good for 15 minutes or less

Your basic grocery store coffee, canned or loose in bins is probably a minimum of 4 months old before you purchase.

Best basic method to brew is a plastic cone over a pot with paper filters. Try to find a source of beans that includes a roast date. I charge $15 for a pound which considering my extra shipping costs and the fact that a can of Folgers is now 12 ounces, ain't bad.

In addition to shrinking the size of the can, the big boys are using cheaper beans these days, Robusta machine harvested, rather than Arabica mountain grown and hand harvested. Arabica trees are an understory forest tree, grown in the shade. Robusta trees are grown in flatter land, in the open. Robusta coffee tends to have at least twice the caffeine than Arabica. Even when they say "Mountain Grown" that does not mean Arabica.

One of my sidelines is roasting coffee. I have a 1 kilo Turkish drum roaster, gas fired, and sell around 90lbs. a month. It's a small community here so I do it, my hand to yours, no retail markup, no ad. costs, etc.

I purchase 60 # sacks of green coffee from a reputable source that only handles coffee they have taste tested, before stocking.

Rule of thumb:
Green coffee beans good for 12 months or better
Roasted coffee beans good for 1 month or less
Ground coffee beans good for 15 minutes or less

Your basic grocery store coffee, canned or loose in bins is probably a minimum of 4 months old before you purchase.

Best basic method to brew is a plastic cone over a pot with paper filters. Try to find a source of beans that includes a roast date. I charge $15 for a pound which considering my extra shipping costs and the fact that a can of Folgers is now 12 ounces, ain't bad.

In addition to shrinking the size of the can, the big boys are using cheaper beans these days, Robusta machine harvested, rather than Arabica mountain grown and hand harvested. Arabica trees are an understory forest tree, grown in the shade. Robusta trees are grown in flatter land, in the open. Robusta coffee tends to have at least twice the caffeine than Arabica. Even when they say "Mountain Grown" that does not mean Arabica.

Garbage in, garbage out

Great information, and it makes sense. Stale coffee.
Fresh coffee like you sell is rare around here. I could go over to Charlottesville and get it- coffee houses are everywhere in that town!
I have gotten coffee in Haiti before and brought it home. It doesn't get much fresher than cleaning the beans, roasting them over an open fire, then bringing it home the next day. That gets expensive, too, considering the cost of a plane ticket...

__________________
Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ..."

You covered all the aspects of making a cup; I was going to say "water" since coffee is 99+% water, but you tried bottled water.

One thing I've found out in years of trying different methods and makers; most coffee makers like to make at least 1/2 a full batch to get a solid flavor. Making 3 cups in a 12 cup maker is just going to be disappointing. The filter-bed of grounds is too thin and the water just shoots through too fast, not picking up flavor, except filter paper.

If you have a Mr. Coffee type auto-drip, they can be rather hit or miss because as much as they try to standardize them, the brew temperature can vary unit to unit. One thing that can affect their performance is line voltage at your house.

The only suggestion I can make without coming by for a cup is; try a click or 2 coarser or finer on the grinder to see if you can get fuller extraction, I'd try finer first. If you have a "whirlie bird" grinder, and not a burr grinder that may just be the problem. To get an even extraction you need to have an even grind. The whirlie grinders create from dust to chunks and everything in between; so part is over-extracted, part under-extracted. If that is the case it is better to sacrifice "freshness" and grind it at the store to get a proper grind and even extraction.

Birddogger I agree with your comments including the limitations of whirly bird grinders, but not the concept that a better grind on bad coffee will win the taste test. I would prefer dust and bits with fresh roasted beans, every day of the week. : )

Brewed coffee likes to see water right at 205 degrees so the problem with most "automatic" drippers is water temperature being too low. A tea pot just off boil is what you want. The pour over is the least expensive way to extract. A shot of water sufficient to wet the grounds, count to twenty and pour away.

Coffee is complex and is after all a crop. To the big guys, blend is everything out of a desire to maintain a flavor profile, ton after ton. Single origin or co-op coffees vary quite a lot in the cup. I prefer the somewhat chocolate flavor of Central/South American coffee; El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador. The real "snobs" advise against dark roasts but I enjoy my coffees a bit on the dark side.

Take care with some "coffee shops" that don't roast on site. Their coffee can be as stale as the grocery store.

All that said, I consumed god knows how many red cans of Dominicano coffee down here and if given the choice of nothing at dawn or that, I'd take that!

Anyone interested in home roasting, the good beans are at Sweet Maria's. Methods of roasting vary and can be accomplished with something simple as a steel dog bowl and a heat gun!

The coffee maker has something to do with it, and so does the coffee quality. We use a Keurig, and I really like the coffee it makes. The Green Mountain Nantucket is about the best cup of coffee that will come out of our kitchen.

Hodge, I am with you on the Keurig and Nantucket. Nantucket is primarily because Sam's sells it in the large boxes. Keurig because it is so easy to make in small quantities any time day or night.